the regime can hang on for a while because it has troops in the city. it has ammunition and supplies and so on but it means the city will fall. it cannot stand alone. >> reporter: u.s. intelligence does not believe damascus is likely to fall right away, but white had an estimate. >> you can feel it. you can sense it. it looks like the regime's being defeated not tomorrow maybe, but not too far off, i think. >> reporter: can you put a time frame on it? >> i'm thinking in the next couple of months. >> reporter: the syrian government has vowed not to use chemical weapons against its own people but it regards the opposition as foreign terrorists. >> pelley: david, thank you. those so-called foreterrorists are actually the syrian people who rose up against the 41-year-old assad family dictatorship. it's estimated 40,000 people have been killed, mostly civilians. one reason assad has held on-- he's had the support of russia but that may be changing. in ireland today, secretary of state hillary clinton, met with the russian foreign minister. it happened at a m